The present invention relates to a support and positioning device for at least one of the cars transported by an articulated car carrier formed of a truck and one or more trailers, the device being installed in the lower rear position on the truck or the trailer.
Due to cost factors throughout the general transportation industry, and particularly in the mass transport of automobiles, there is a high demand for both increased carrying capacity and improved methods of loading and unloading vehicles.
In response, manufacturers have designed and constructed car carriers with large capacity which will still meet other specific industry requirements. These include size restrictions imposed by highway regulations, technical imperatives relating to automobile dimension, the need to maintain a safe distance between vehicles during transport, and the safety of both personnel and vehicles during loading and unloading operations.
The lower platform of a truck, and particularly of a trailer truck, is generally shorter than the upper platform due to the presence of the cab.
The following is a description of conventional loading operations.
The lower loading platform has local recesses in some areas which engage one of the wheels of the lower car near the truck cab, thus freeing a large amount of space near the top. This space is used to receive the nose of the next vehicle, which is pointed down and towards the rear, supported by an individual ramp known as the stacking ramp.
This arrangement means that the rear end of the first vehicle carried by the lower platform of the trailer is angled up toward the rear while supported by a hydraulic stacking ramp.
This configuration, shown in FIG. 11, illustrates the prior art technique.
This technique has three major disadvantages.
It requires adaptations in the wheel base of the truck and the formation of recesses in the areas often selected by truck manufacturers to house such equipment and accessories as the fuel tank, batteries, compressed air tank, and so forth.
The rear stacking ramp on the truck, which is inclined before access to the car is gained, offers very poor visibility to the surrounding area, making vehicle access difficult and posing a danger to workers and the car.
The hydraulic stacking ramp necessary at the front of the trailer is a significant extra expense.
The general aim of the invention is to maximize use of the loading space by making better use of the spaces formed by the overlapping vehicles between the truck cabin and the rear of the last trailer.
A first specific goal of the invention is the safe, quick loading and unloading of vehicles, combined with improved use of the space between the rear of the truck and the beginning of the trailer, while facilitating and reducing the number of loading and unloading operations.
A second specific goal is improving safety of loading and unloading operations, particularly for the car placed at the rear of the truck, not only worker safety but also vehicle security since visibility from the lower rear vehicle on the truck was very poor in previous systems.
The basic principle of the invention is to load the last vehicle on the lower truck platform in an inclined position so that it is partially above the first lower vehicle on the trailer.
The individual support device for a car carrier according to the invention offers numerous advantages, which are primarily as follows:
elimination of the hydraulic stacking ramp on the trailer;
it becomes useless to form spaces in the wheelbase of the truck and to risk displacing equipment and useless to form recesses designed to lower at least one of the wheels of the vehicle being transported near the cab onto the lower loading platform;
improved vehicle and personnel safety, since it possible to load the rear vehicle onto the lower truck platform under good visibility conditions;
the rear vehicle on the lower truck platform can be loaded in a flat position using the invention, which allows easy access, as the device the vehicle to be definitively placed a second time;
the support device can be used as a ramp for vehicle access at the rear of the truck if the truck is used alone;
the support structure serves as a bridge between the truck and the trailer during the loading and unloading operations;
improved manufacture, since the support structure is universal and can be mass-produced;
optimal loading capacity;
improved distribution of the load on the truck due to the new arrangement of vehicles;
versatility, since the old configurations remain possible, while the invention offers new possibilities.